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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 14, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Wednesday Oct 18, 2023
Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 9, 2011
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
The Old Testament lesson for this week, Isaiah 25:6-9, is a prophecy of a great feast coming when the Lord has “swallowed up” the veil of death forever and there are no more “tears” of sorrow or reproach (disgrace) for His people. The Lord has spoken and promised this, and it will happen. We are to “wait” in faith for that day of “salvation” in heaven in eternal life.
The Psalm is Psalm 23. The Lord is our Good Shepherd. He “restores” our troubled, sinful “souls” and leads and comforts us all our life. He provides a “table” for us (the Lord’s Supper and His Word and other gifts) in the presence of the “enemies” of our faith; and one day, we will “dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” enjoying His great feast in heaven.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus tells a parable about the Kingdom of Heaven being like a King (our Lord God) giving a wedding feast for His Son (our Lord Jesus). God’s Old Testament people were already invited to the feast, but they refused to come. Other servants invited them, but they went off to their own pursuits or treated the King’s servants very badly and killed some of them. The King finally destroyed many of the people and their city. (Many Jews died and Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD.) A general invitation to the wedding feast went out to everyone possible, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled. Wedding garments were provided to all (robes of righteousness in and through Jesus - the Way to heaven), but one man refused to wear his robe and was cast into outer darkness, where there is only sorrow - the way to hell, rejecting Jesus and His grace and gifts.
The Epistle lesson is the fourth reading from Philippians, Chapter 4: 4-13. Paul calls people to “rejoice in the Lord always” and to trust in the “peace” He brings through Christ Jesus as Savior. Paul knows that he can do all things he needs to do through Jesus “Who strengthens him” in this life, no matter what the circumstances. He seeks to keep in mind the honorable and just and pure things of God and His Word, which he has received and taught, as he waits for the Lord’s return and that heavenly feast.
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
The letter to the church at Sardis follows the same pattern as the other letters (Revelation 3:1). It is written to the “angel,” the church leader and messenger of Sardis, and it is the very words of Jesus, who is identified in Chapter 1:4 with “the seven spirits who are before the throne” in heaven - which is a way of speaking of the One Holy Spirit, who has seven-fold gifts (Isaiah 11:2) and works among all seven of the churches in Asia Minor. Jesus is also said to have “seven stars in His right hand” (Revelation 1:16), and the seven stars are the angels (the leaders and messengers) of the seven churches (1:20). Jesus is seeking to teach and guide these leaders and their churches by these letters.
The city of Sardis was about 30 miles southeast of Thyatira. It had been the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, long before the Roman control of this area. It was a city of great wealth and fame. Its high point (acropolis) was 1500 feet above the valley below. The church in Sardis had a reputation, a “name” of being an “alive” church, but Jesus says that He knows its works, and it is dead (Revelation 3:1). As He goes on, He says that the church is not completely dead, but dying, like a fire where the coals were becoming “dimmer and dimmer,” with lots of “mere ashes and dead coals,” and in danger of “the whole fire being dead,” as the commentator Lenski says. It was a “drowsy, sleepy” congregation that didn’t seem to see what was happening and needed to “wake up and strengthen what remains.” Jesus especially could see that because, as God, He found that their works were not “complete” (filled full). This does not mean that they were not doing enough works, in the sense of not doing enough to earn salvation, or anything like that. None of us can earn our salvation, no matter what we do.
Rather, good works flow from faith and confidence in Christ Himself, who He is and what He has already done for us as our Savior. Notice again a familiar Scripture like Ephesians 2:4-10, where Paul first tells us what God has done for us in Christ, by His grace alone that saves us. Only then, in v. 10, does Paul talk about the fact that we are now God’s “workmanship,” new people “created in Christ Jesus for good works” in our new life in Him. Somehow, in the church at Sardis, “the faith, love, and spiritual life” in Christ “that should have filled all their works had been growing less and less,” as Lenski says.
Therefore, Jesus says, in Revelation 3:3, that the people at Sardis needed to “remember what they had received and heard” in Christ and the Word of Scripture and the Sacraments and “keep” that strong and “repent” of their spiritual sleepiness. To use Lenski’s picture of dying coals, see how Paul said to the young pastor, Timothy, “I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you… (2 Timothy 1:6) “by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus…” (2 Timothy 1:9).
How are God’s gifts “fanned into flame” in Timothy and in the people in Sardis and in us, still today? Jesus particularly mentioned in Revelation 3:1 His connection with God the Holy Spirit, who works, based on other Scriptures, through the Word of God and the Sacraments to bring people to faith and and keep them in that faith, unto eternal life. (See for example 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 2:19-22, Matthew 28:19-20, and Acts 2: 42.) That is why it is so important that we stay in God’s Word and His good gifts, through which the Holy Spirit works in our lives. That is why the “angels” of the churches, the pastors and teachers and leaders of the churches (Revelation 3:1) need to stay in the Word, too, for their own sake and to teach and lead others in the proper way, according to God’s Word and will.
That is why Jesus also gives a strong warning in Revelation 3:3, that if the people at Sardis do not “wake up,” He will come like a thief” at an unknown hour, and “come against those people” if they are spiritually dead and don’t ever repent. As He also warns in v. 5, their names would be “blotted out of the book of Life,” because of unbelief.
The image of Jesus coming unexpectedly, “like a thief in the night,” is used numbers of times in the Scriptures, especially in regard to His second coming, on the last day or in a time of judgment. Here are some examples: Revelation 16:15, Matthew 24:42-44, and 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3. The emphasis is upon being ready and prepared by continuing faith in Jesus, whenever He comes again or when the day of death comes for each of us, whichever comes first (Matthew 10:22).
The image of “the Book of Life” is also often used in the Scripture, as a way of assuring people that their personal future is secure in eternal life, because of God’s promises and His desire to keep them in faith in Him. There are warnings that people can be blotted out of the Book by sin and rebellion and continually rejecting God and His will and plan for their salvation. Here are other Scriptures that speak of this “Book of Life,” if you would like to trace them through the Bible: Exodus 32:32, Psalm 69:29, Daniel 12:1. Malachi 3:16, Luke 10:20, Philippians 4:3, Revelation 13:8, 17:3; 20:12,15, and 21:27.
Going back to Revelation 3:4, we hear Jesus revealing that there were still some people in the church at Sardis who were faithful Christians, “who had not soiled their garments.” This is a Biblical way of speaking of sinfulness, which pollutes a person. The Bible tells us that we are all sinners. The difference for these people is that they had been brought to repentance and forgiveness and faith in Jesus as their Savior and continued in faith in a life of repentance. These are people who say with Isaiah, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). As Paul also says in Philippians 3:9, I am “found in Christ, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” His worthiness comes not from himself, but from what Christ has done for him.
In Revelation 3:5, Jesus says that such believers “will be clothed thus with white garments” and will “walk with Him in white” (Revelation 3:4) in eternal life. John sees such believers “given a white robe” in visions later on in Revelation 6:11 and 7:9, 13-14. Their robes were “washed white in the blood of the Lamb,” the sacrifice of Jesus for them on the cross to forgive all sins. These people have “conquered” through Christ and their names are never blotted out of the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5). In fact, Jesus says of such a believer, “I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” (Revelation 3:5). (See how Jesus promises this to all those who are His own, in Matthew 10:32 and Matthew 25:34, too.)
In this letter to Sardis, then, Jesus is calling all of the people of this sleepy congregation to “wake up” and “repent” of their sins and their lazy response to Christ and “strengthen what remains,” through God’s Word and Sacraments. This is always possible, through Christ. When Jesus predicted that Peter would deny Him three times, Jesus also said, “I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned again (repented), strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-34).
This letter, like the others, says to us all, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We all have times of “sleepiness” in our Christianity, and none of our churches are perfect. This letter is for us, too. You might remember the closing words of Jude, when we studied his letter a while back: “In the last times there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear; hating even the garments stained by the flesh. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (Jude 17-25)
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Wednesday Oct 11, 2023
Sermon for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 2, 2011
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Both the Psalm and Old Testament lesson this week speak of the judgment upon the Old Testament people of Israel, because of their sin and rebellion against God. These readings tie in well the messages from the New Testament readings, too.
The psalm is Psalm 80:7-19. The earlier part of the psalm, before today’s reading, refers to three of the Northern tribes of Israel (80:2-4) crying out for God’s mercy and help, likely as they and the Northern Kingdom of Israel were being conquered by the Assyrian armies. Psalm 80:7ff., our reading, speaks of God’s people as being “a vine brought out of Egypt and planted” in the Promised Land and blessed and protected and brought to prosper by the Lord. Now, however, the walls of the vineyard (Northern Israel) have been broken down and it has been ravaged and burned by enemies. The psalmist calls upon the Lord for salvation and restoration for His “son,” as the people of Israel are sometimes called. (See Hosea 11:1-2 and why God’s people were in such trouble.) In this psalm, though, in a prophetic way, the son refers especially to “the Son of man,” the Son of God’s right hand, our Lord Jesus Christ, who would ultimately “save” and “restore“ and give new “life,” available to all.
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 5:1-7, is also about God’s people as “a vineyard.” It is a “love song,” as God speaks of all that He has done for His people, His vineyard. He has done everything He could for them, now referring to the Southern Kingdom, Judah and Jerusalem; yet they have been yielding not good grapes but “wild grapes,” with “bloodshed” and “outcries” of evil against the Lord. As as result, the Southern House of Israel will also be trampled down and left a “wasteland” (by the Babylonian empire).
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 21:33-46, Jesus also tells a parable of God’s people as a vineyard. (Some of God’s people had been restored in Jerusalem and the land of Israel after the Babylonian captivity.) The “master of a house,” the Lord Himself, had built the vineyard very well and “leased it to tenants,” the people of Israel. At harvest time, He sent servants (prophets and other spokesmen for the Lord) to “get His fruit,” but the tenants seized them and beat some and killed others, and did not give Him His fruit. The owner sent other servants, and they were treated the same way. Finally, the Master sent His own Son, and the tenants did not respect even Him, and threw Him out and killed Him. What will happen to those evil tenants? They will have a miserable death, and the vineyard would be given to other tenants, who will produce and provide good fruit.” It is clear to the Jewish religious leaders that Jesus was talking about Himself as the Son of the Lord, Whom they would soon be killing, in spite of His warnings to them. Jesus also quotes from Psalm 118:22-23, saying that He would live, even after His death, and be the Savior and “Cornerstone” on whom the new people of God, who believed in Him, would be built. Those who rejected Jesus would eventually be “crushed” and “broken to pieces.”
In the Epistle lesson, Philippians 3:4b-14, Paul says that he had been one of those “persecutors” of Christ Jesus and His “church,” as described in today’s Gospel lesson. He had been an outstanding Jewish leader, with all the right background and credentials, until by God’s grace he received the “surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord.” All his previous “righteous acts of his own” were “loss” and “rubbish.” He had now received “the righteousness from God” that came simply “through faith in Christ” and His already accomplished “sufferings” and “death” and “resurrection.” Now Paul wanted to “be found always in Christ” and “faith in Him.” That gift of God is what we all need and have in Jesus, too.
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Today we look at the letter to the church at Thyatira, in Revelation 2:18-29. Thyatira was the smallest city of the seven to whom letters go in Revelation 2-3, but its church receives the longest letter for one main reason, as we will see. Thyatira was founded by Seleucus, a general with Alexander the Great, as a military outpost around 300 BC. It was 20 miles Southeast of Pergamum and by the time of this letter was known for its many trade guilds. We hear in Acts 16:14 that it was the hometown of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth (who became a Christian in Philippi), and it was known for its purple dyeing and weaving.
This letter begins as the others do, addressed to the “angel” (the pastoral leader and messenger) of the church at Thyatira (Revelation 2:18). The letter was written down by John, but it is clearly “the words” of Jesus, “the Son of God.” This is the only time in Revelation that this title is given to Jesus, maybe since Psalm 2 is quoted later in this letter, right after the Lord says of the coming Savior, “You are My Son” and again identifies Him as “the Son” (Psalm 2:7,12).
The other words about Jesus in v.18 are part of the vision of Him that John saw in Revelation 1:14-15. The “flaming eyes” of Jesus picture that Jesus can, as He says in Revelation 2:23, “search minds and hearts of people.” The “feet of burnished bronze” suggest His strength and “authority” described 2:26-27.
Jesus begins His specific message to this church with a great compliment. His eyes of fire can see and know their “works” and that the faithful people there are growing in “love and faith and service and patient endurance” in times of trouble, and are even doing better in living out these gifts of God than before (Revelation 2:19). This is the opposite of what Jesus had said about the church in Ephesus, where they had abandoned “the love that they had at first,” and were called to repent (Revelation 2:4-5).
However, Jesus also has a very serious concern about the church at Thyatira. “I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20). This sounds similar to the situation in Pergamum with some who were following the teachings of Balaam and Balak and the Nicolaitans and having problems with idolatry and food offered to idols and sexual immorality (Revelation 2:14-15). This seems to be a bigger problem, though, in Thyatira, as the false prophetess is influencing a larger number of people of the church, as Jezebel, a non-Jew, in the Old Testament was married to King Ahab and led him and many of the Israelites far from God and into worship of Baal and other false deities and much immorality. (See references to this in 1 Kings 16:31-33, 18:4, and 2 Kings 9:22.)
The church has some responsibility, too, in “tolerating” what this woman, like Jezebel of old, was doing and her “seduction” of many people. She has had “time to repent, but refuses to do so” (2:21). Sexual immorality” and “adultery with her” and mention of her “sick-bed” and “her works” all tell how she is leading this immorality and rejection of God and His will. All involved with her need to repent or there will be “great tribulation” for them, as well as for her (2:21-22). Jesus even mentions “death” for her "children" in v. 23. This probably does not mean her literal children, but those following in this woman’s evil footsteps, and influencing still others in bad ways. They will be judged, too, unless there is repentance and return to the Lord.
There is also reference in v. 24 to “what some call the deep things of Satan.” Some think that some of what was going on was an early form of Gnosticism, also. Gnostics thought that only the spiritual is important and that the material, including our bodies, were unimportant and we could do whatever we wanted with them without any harm to our spirit. The word “gnosis” means “knowledge,” and some thought that the more knowledge the better, even knowledge of and participation in evil and the satanic and the totally immoral, that they believed would gain knowledge and understanding, and yet not hurt the soul and spirit. All this was totally wrong, according to Scripture, and the opposite of God’s will in Christ. The true knowledge was always in God and His Word.
Jesus then reminds all the churches (since the message of these letters applied to all churches and they were all to have ears to hear all He said) in v.23 that He is the One who "searches minds and hearts and will give to each according to his own works.” He knows all our thoughts and deeds, and we can hide nothing from Him. If we have only our own thoughts and words and deeds to offer to God, we are all in big trouble. This is said often in the Scriptures. Jeremiah 17:9-10 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? ‘I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.'”
These are important words for us and our churches in our own day, too. So many people think that things like sexual morality are not a big deal, and it does not matter much what we do. These Scriptures remind us that temptations to immorality can also lead us and others far away from listening to our Lord and trusting Him, too. We need to take these passages of Law and warning seriously and hear the call to repentance, when we are drifting from the Lord and His will.
God also says, though, through Ezekiel, prophesying about Christ and His saving work for us and the gift of baptism: “I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean of all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). Forgiveness and new life are always possible with the Lord.
Jesus also recognizes that there are those in Thyatira who resist false prophetesses and false teachers and are trying to keep the faith in Christ and regularly repent and trust His forgiveness and promises. He says to them and to us, in verses 24-25: “I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.”
Jesus also gives His promises to those “conquerors” (and we have heard that that refers to those who keep trusting Christ Jesus and His saving, conquering work already done for us) who keep trying to follow Christ and His way to the end of our lives or the return of Christ, whichever comes first (2:26-28). Jesus then quotes from Psalm 2:7-9 - words that speak of Himself, the Christ, the Anointed One of God (Psalm 2:2) and His victory and authority over all things, as King of Kings. He is Savior and blesses all who take refuge in Him as Lord and Savior (Psalm 2:12). He also is One who can bring wrath, “a rod of iron,” upon those who reject Him, who are like “earthen pots that are broken.”
There is also an indication that somehow God’s people will participate in the final reign of Christ in eternal life, together with Him. We will have perfect peace with Him, after all the struggles of this life and the struggles of our churches. The authority is all Christ’s (Matthew 28:18), but we will enjoy His blessings, too. (See 2 Timothy 2:12, for example, and Romans 8:18.)
Finally, Jesus says that He will give the believers “the morning star” (Revelation 2:28). The Morning Star is Christ Himself. See the prophesy of Him in Numbers 24:17, the star that announced His coming in Matthew 2:1-12, and the clear words of Jesus in Revelation 22:18: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the Root and the Descendant of David, the Bright Morning Star.”
If we have Christ Jesus, as He promises, we have everything we need, for this life and for eternal life. And the Apostle John said it so simply in another of His letters, “I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God (Jesus Christ), that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13). May the Lord keep us in that blessed gift of faith always.
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Tuesday Oct 03, 2023
Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered September 25, 2011
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Friday Sep 29, 2023
In the Psalm for the day, Psalm 25, David speaks of his “trust” in the Lord, as the “God of his salvation.” At the same time, He asks the Lord to remember His mercy and goodness and not remember the sins of David’s youth and his transgressions. Several times David speaks of the need to be taught the Lord’s truth and to be led in His ways and to wait humbly for the Lord and His steadfast love.
The Old Testament lesson is from Ezekiel 18:1-4 and 25-32. Ezekiel reports God’s command no longer to use the proverb, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” We cannot blame our parents or others for what we individually do. “All souls are the Lord’s,” and “it is the soul who sins who shall die.” God’s ways are “just,” but our ways are often not. We are called to “repent and turn away from our transgressions,” with “a new heart and a new spirit.” (Both Ezekiel 11:19 and 36:25-27 tell us that God gives us that “cleansing” and “a new heart and spirit.”)
The Gospel lesson is Matthew 21:23-27 (28-32). Jesus had chased out the money changers and sellers from the temple and the next day was teaching in the temple. The chief priests and elders came and asked Jesus, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus challenges them with His own question about from where the baptism of John the Baptist came - “from heaven or from man?” The elders realize they are in trouble no matter which way they answer, and so they say nothing. Jesus does not answer them either. He knows that their judgment was already against Him, and that He would be crucified in a few days (Matthew 26:2). Jesus then tells a parable about two sons. The one who who did the will of his father did the right thing, though he was a rebel at first. In the same way, the religious leaders are the continuing rebels, for they will not believe in the message of John or the One for Whom he was preparing the way - Jesus Himself.
The Epistle lesson continues readings from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, Chapter 2: 1-4 (5-13) 14-18. Paul calls upon the Philippians to be like-minded, with the mind of Christ, following the humility and love and service by which Jesus came into this world and even gave His life for us on the cross. We bow our knees before Jesus and confess that He is Lord and try to follow in the way of salvation. Paul reminds us, though, that it only God at work in us who enables us to “will and to work for His good pleasure.” Through Him we are considered “without blemish” and are “lights” in the midst of a “crooked and twisted generation,” as we “hold fast to the Word of Life,” in Christ.
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Sermon/Bible Study based on Psalm 27
Sermon originally delivered September 27, 2023
Psalm 27 is the psalm assigned for worship this past Sunday - but since we use a Divine Service at all of our regular worship, there isn’t a specific place for a psalm. Psalms are good to listen to and study, though, because they are written by real people, just like us, with their joys and struggles and challenges. Psalm 27 is a good example, with David as the author.
If you know much about David, you know that he was the youngest child in his family and not always respected or thought much of, until he, as a young person, defeated the mighty giant, Goliath, with a sling-shot.
David had many other dangers and challenges in his life, too. You get a sense of that in verses 2 and 3 of the psalm. We hear David speaking:
- “Evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh.”
- I have “adversaries” and “foes.”
- “An army encamps against me” and “war arises against me.”
David faced all of that and more. King Saul tried to kill him more than once. When David finally became king, he had to fight many battles against many people to try to secure the land for the Israelites, and to set up a capitol city in Jerusalem, as a place for the tabernacle and later the temple to be built. His own son, Absalom, later on overthrew him as King and tried to capture and do away with him. Yet David says, again and again, in this psalm: “Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? I will be confident!”
How about us and how we are doing, these days? On a smaller scale, do we face many of the same challenges and fears?
- We live in a pretty safe community, but we sometimes hear of “evildoers” and bad things happening pretty close to where we are, right now. That’s why our church and school have to be locked up much of the time, especially for the sake of our children and staff at our school.
- Do we still have “adversaries and foes?” We hear and read almost every day of people attacking the Christian faith and important things that we believe.
- What about armies and wars? We wonder what will happen between and Russia and Ukraine. What about the threats of China with Taiwan and other nations, too?
Some say that reading the news these days is “doom scrolling,” because there is so much doom and gloom described. This all leaves us perplexed and worried and feeling helpless - at least at times - as if we were in-the-dark in life.
How did David cope with all this? He said in verse 1, “The Lord is my Light.” This sinful, fallen world has always been full of darkness, but as David wrote in another psalm, “With You, O Lord, is the fountain of life; in Your Light do we see light” and hope, too (Psalm 36:9). And another psalmist also wrote: “Send out Your Light and Your Truth, O God; let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your dwelling. Then I will go to the altar of the Lord, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise You” (Psalm 43:3-4).
The reality is that David was not always so confident in his Lord when tough times came. He wondered, at times, where the Lord was and what He was doing. We get a glimpse of that in verses 7-10 of Psalm 25, where David prays that the Lord will “hear” him and “not turn away” and “not hide His face” from him, or “cast him off” or “forsake him.”
David even thinks of his parents and how they have “forsaken” him, in v.10. He probably simply means that they have died (which they could not control), and he greatly misses them and their presence and their encouragement, as we all do when our loved ones and other family die. That can be a very dark time for us, too.
Yet, then, David bounces back to his trust in the Lord, as v.10 ends: “but the Lord will take me in,” even if family and friends are gone. He asks the Lord to teach him His ways and lead him on a “level, stable path.” That is what David had prayed for in v.3 - that he would be able to be often in the Lord’s house and talk and inquire of Him. For the Lord and His Word were a continual “lamp to his feet and a light to his path” (Psalm 119:105) and would point him again to what he also mentioned in v. 1 - “the Lord’s salvation,” which would ultimately come in Jesus.
The name “Jesus” means “Savior” - the Lord saves - and Jesus was “the Light of the world” (John 8:12) and “the true Light who enlightens every person” and “the Light that no darkness can ever overcome” (John 1:5,9). Jesus Himself said, “Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of Life” (John 8:12). That Light and that eternal victory, that salvation, was won for us by Jesus by His death and resurrection.
We are here today at worship for the same reason that David wanted to be in God’s House. We have days of strong faith, but also darker days of worry and struggle. We need to be reminded again and again of the Lord’s forgiveness and His promises, especially in Christ our Savior. And they are always there for us, too, in God’s Word and the gift of the Lord’s Supper.
One commentator on this psalm says that people sometimes “whistle in the dark.” It’s a coping mechanism that helps them feel a little better when by themselves on a dark night - but it doesn’t help very much. We have so much more, in our Lord. As David said in verses 5-6 in this psalm: “The Lord will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up… and I will sing and make melody to the Lord.”
David had his psalms to sing, and we have our hymns, which also reflect God’s Word to us and encourage us, so that we can say with David, as he says in v.1, “The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Stronghold, the Defense of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
And we can also say with David what some call his “Amen,” his “This is most certainly true” of this psalm, in v.13-14: “I believe, (I truly believe!) that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” - (strength in this life and eternal life to come.) Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
We pray: “Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds safe, only where they can be safe, in Christ Jesus” our Lord (Philippians 4:7). Amen.